Gunmen attack Ajimobi’s wife, Ladoja’s aide

By Tope Abiola - 10.03.2008

GUNMEN at the weekend attacked the wife of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate in Oyo State in last April election, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, and Mr. Kayode Layiwola, one of the supporters of the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja.

Mrs. Ajimobi was said to have been attacked at a restraurant in Ibadan, while Mr. Layiwola was kidnapped at gun point by hoodlums in the premises of the state high court. Layiwola was allegedly abducted and hidden in the boot of a car and taken to an unknown destination after the nullification of the election of a member of the state House of Assembly last Thursday.

Mrs. Ajimobi, while narrating her ordeal to the newsmen, said she escaped being manhandled by the hoodlums by providence, saying “it was a divine intervention.”

She explained that “I was returning to my residence after taking my children to an eatry around 7.00 p.m on Friday, when the hoodlums suddenly attacked me and commanded me to lie flat on the ground or be shot dead.”

She, however, said she could not ascertain whether the gunmen were assassins or robbers. Mr. Layiwola was dumped at the premises of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), of the state police command after he had been beaten to pulp.

While speaking with newsmen, his brother, Mr. Kola Layiwola said “my brother was at the entrance of the court when they identified him as a loyalist of Ladoja and he was whisked away by the suspected political thugs.”

When contacted, the state Commissioner of Police, Prince Udom Ekpoudom Udom, said “I have not been briefed about the attacks, but promised that the state police command would investigate the attacks and brought the perpetrators to book.